Wow Factor

This has nothing to do with my trip, or any of my projects, they pale in comparison.

 

This is a life size felted grizzly bear, created by Melissa Nasby, for a museum installation. Found on FB.

Things I've Learned Recently

One life's great pleasures, at least in my opinion, is finding a delightful nugget of  knowledge when I wasn't looking for it. Just this morning, I learned about a Ravelry feature for pattern searches called Remember and Compare. Don't know how long its been around, but what a great idea. I wish I'd known about it when I started the Great Cardigan Pattern Search. By the way, the results of the search are percolating. I have some ideas, I think I'm heading towards a certain destination, but there is always the possibility of pin balling off in an entirely different direction. While I was searching, I ran across a new-to-me way of constructing a top-down sleeve, called the Contiguous Method by Susie Myers. I don't know if you need a Ravelry account to view these sites, I apologize to any who might not be able to view them. If you knit, crochet or spin it is a wonderful place and I recommend joining.

I've also learned things that I've specifically set out to learn. Such as; what type of rodent is it that the dog and cat keep catching? Turns out they are voles. The dog and cat co-hunt now. Scipio, the cat, has learned that Shae often flushes small critters out of the bushes, and doesn't notice. So the cat uses this to his advantage. The dog still benefits, as after a while the cat tires of the cat and mouse game and the dog recovers the critter.

Here is another recent animal I.D.;

the Western Grape Skeletonizer, aka Harrisina metallica. The stuff I've read says they overwinter in a silken cocoon... Maybe I should keep some in a terrarium so I can learn more about this silken cocoon. At least I know I have the food they need growing right outside. Thanks to Wormspit for the inspiration to I.D. these guys.

And finally, I've learned that even when a project seems like it will never get finished, and the mattress stitching is endless, it is possible to finally reach the end and say Done!

I especially like the stockinette band at the bottom, I love the greens and purples together. The colors aren't quite right on my monitor, but you get the general idea.

New gadget, box photo and EEK! a spider

I added the Google 'follower' gadget to this page, just to see how it works. Bear with me while I experiment. :-)

And here is a picture of felted box #2. In the picture, you can't tell that the sides are a bit floppy. See the dog hair stuck to the box? That's what all those extra megapixels are good for!










Extra megapixels are good for keeping detail in heavily cropped photos too, see? I can count the hairs on the little spider's back!

Zippo

Why haven't I posted? Because I've got zippo to report on. I feel like I've been busy, but I sure don't have much to show for it. Where has all the time gone? Since I calculated how long it will take me to finish the Muir shawl, I've knit exactly one row more. I haven't posted a new picture of felted basket #2. Here's a picture of it blocking. It looks like I made a baking dish cozy. I finished the edge with 4 rows of garter stitch, and after felting the edge came out nice and smooth. This dish might be just a little too large for the box, I think I stretched it out too much and I might just re-felt the box and block it over something smaller.


Now, I do know what happened to some of the missing time. Hubby asked what I wanted for Mother's Day, and I decided to go big. A new digital point and shoot camera, a set of Addi Clicks and a jumbo flyer for my spinning wheel. No, not all of them, it was between these 3. Addi Clicks are all sold out for a while, so I crossed those off the list, and I'm really not ready to start with a jumbo flyer, so I decided on the camera. My current camera is a whopping 3.1 megapixels, its been very servicable over the years, as long as the light is good and my subject isn't moving. But which one to get? Where did all those little cameras come from? There must be hundreds! I think I spent 2 days in front of the computer researching cameras. I was exhausted.

I finally narrowed my search down to 3 choices. And then I went over to a friends house, and she showed me a camera her husband had recently purchased. Not one that was on my short list, it was out side my price point and a bit bigger than what I was looking for. But, I remembered reading favorable reviews, and I started playing with it. Ohhh, nice macro shots; check out that detail, wow! the flash is great, check out the zoom! And then I clicked off 2 awesome portraits of my friend's boys, and I was hooked. End of story, I was in love and nothing else would do. I had to have that camera, even if it meant no new yarn for a month! I tried one of the camera's from my list, but my mind kept tugging back to that other camera. It was hopeless.

Thank goodness Hubby understands.

So the next few days after Mother's Day were spent in blissful abandon, learning the secrets of my new camera. Simple and easy to get along with, but with some deeper challenges and complexity. :-)

More Felting, Pretty Beads

The felted basket needed companions, and I needed some (more) near instant gratification. Why not try a felted box? I used U.S. #10.5 dpns and the magic loop cast on and sort of improvised as I went along, knitting outward from the center bottom (increasing 8 sts every other rnd, there that looks big enough!), purling 2 rnds, then stockinette stitching with a purl stitch at each corner until the sides looked tall enough. Cast off last night, then into the washing machine this morning while I wait for the coffee to brew.




The knitting looks pretty well felted after 10 or 15 minutes, although I see the stitches show up a bit more in the photo than to my naked eye. The box is blocked over a food storage container and right now is about 6" square and 2" tall. I might decide to felt it just a bit more, I don't know yet. Now that I've a felted basket and a box, I think the set needs one more box, or maybe a bowl. Whichever one I chose, I think I'll try a couple of rows of garter stitch around the edge before binding off.



Back a few posts, I mentioned wanting to try lace knitting and listed a few of the patterns I was considering. The Shipwreck Shawl was one of the patterns; it caught my eye in part because of the beads. I haven't yet knit with beads and I want to give it a try. So a few weeks ago I ordered some beads from Shipwreck Beads. Pretty, sparkly beads. Some for beaded socks, some for beaded shawls. Not sure of the patterns yet, but here are the pretty beads.








I completed the second pattern repeat of the Muir shawl, only 11 more to go. I think I'm getting better at this, mostly because I've sworn off trying to watch T.V. while working on it. :-) The multi-colored Tencel sort of obscures the lace pattern, breaks it up visually; its not that I don't like it, but I don't love it either. Maybe blocking will change how I feel, depending on how the Tencel blocks out. Or, maybe instead of a shawl, this will become a window treatment. For some reason that's how I keep seeing it in my head... There is a narrow window in my bedroom that might be just right for this...

Felted Basket Flu

The felted basket is done, and I think its lovely. I wasn't sure how this thick-n-thin homespun style yarn would felt up, but as you can see in the photo above, the felted yarn almost looks pebbled and it felted up nicely.

I wasn't paying much attention to the pattern as I was knitting away on last Sunday's drive. I kept thinking, "Wow, this thing is getting really big. I could steek in armholes and give it sleeves." When I finally measured, I think it had 22" of stockinette. And too much orange. So I frogged back 6" or more, switched colorways and payed attention to the pattern. I did use fewer stitches to form the handles, just under a 1/5 of the total stitch count per handle instead of 1/4, and that worked out just fine.

I have a front loading washing machine and I wasn't sure how well it would work for felting, but what the heck, what could go wrong, really? I actually felted it once and blocked it, but then decided it I wanted the felting tighter so I ran it through again. The spin cycle causes a little more felting, but really gets the extra water out and the blocking dries fast. The first time I felted the basket, I block it over a soup pot, but the pot had handles that were in the way so I didn't get the shape I wanted. After the second wash and spin cycle, I blocked the basket over a small waste can that was the perfect diameter.



Finished size; 8 1/4" tall, 10" across.
I have over 100 grams of yarn left, so I could have made this a little bigger, or used only 3 skeins of this yarn for this project.


This week finds me mostly curled up on the couch, doing some knitting and some sleeping while I recover from this cold, or flu or whatever it is. I have a little sore throat, a cough, and a strong desire to take a nap. Yesterday I took three naps, which probably hasn't happened since I was an infant, or maybe since my children were infants. (No, I'm pretty sure they didn't sleep that often.) But, I managed to stay awake long enough to finish knitting the felted basket and then felting it, too.

Color my mood

I think Friday's funk was from lack of color. The socks and the felted basket bottom were just too dreary, and spinning up something colorful was just what I needed. So I hanked up some yarn that was taking up bobbin space and got busy with a RedFish Dye Works roving. I split the roving into 5 sections, but I think I need to split one more time so I have 6 slivers to work with. The plan is to turn this roving into a 2 ply yarn that I can use to knit a (small) scarf. (I haven't really knit anything with any of my handspun yet.) This roving is very soft, and I think it will draft pretty well.

















Anyway, I started feeling much better after working with the roving and watching how the colors shifted and changed as I spun the yarn. I'm trying to spin it fairly thin, as once the yarn is plied, I'm hoping for a sport or DK weight yarn. We'll see. I don't have very good control yet. I spun one entire sliver on Friday, and another on Saturday. Predrafting helps.



Sunday, Hubby and I went for a drive with a car club. I made a little progess on the Hubby socks (freeway driving), and lots of progress on the felted bag (scenic and spirited driving).

Friday Updates

Just a few photo updates. I must be in a funk, because none of these seems very exciting right now. In fact, after I finish with this post I'll fiddle with my spinning instead. Or take a nap with the cat.

Hubby Socks - just past the ball of the foot now, and I decided to add 2x2 ribbing on the topside.


Felted Basket - so far its a blob of brown knitting, but the bottom is done.


Clapotis - Something a little prettier than the blocking pic.

Muir - it really doesn't look much different, so I'm not posting a new picture.

Add one more WIP

A local yarn store (lys), Common Threads, is starting a felted Knitting Basket (you'll need a Ravelry account to view this pattern) knit-along (KAL). It's a project I've been wanting to do, so what better time to add another project to my work in process line up? Everything I've read says this is a fast and easy project, so I can't wait to get started. Here is a picture of the colors I chose.



Yesterday I finally completed one pattern repeat on my Muir shawl, 12 more to go and then the 2 end sections as well. I dedcide to add some markers in the rows to make it easier to keep track of the repeats within the rows. And the hubby socks are about 3.5 inches along, I'll get pictures of those up later this weekend.

Now I'm off to enjoy a walk with a neighbor, and then over to Common Threads for the monthly spin along. Sadly, I've done no spinning since last months meetup.